Catch Up with Winners of YDC 2018

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2019.03.04

Hong Kong Young Fashion Designers’ Contest (YDC) has long helped to launch the careers of budding designers in Hong Kong. Two winners of YDC 2018 share what they are up to after winning last year’s contest.

Menswear scored some of the biggest prizes at YDC 2018. Leo Chan and Yeung Shun Leong, Champion and New Talent Award winner respectively, chose to represent their design visions via a men’s collection, earning them opportunities to work for an international fashion brand and collaborate with a renowned fashion retailer in Hong Kong, a valuable experience for these two recent graduates of the Nottingham Trent University.

Leo Chan (YDC 2018 Champion) and Yeung Shun Leong (YDC 2018 New Talent Award)
Channelling the boy scout

YDC 2018 Champion Leo Chan was thrilled to share his vision on a grand stage like the YDC. His adventure-filled collection won him the biggest prize in the contest, while the process has also given him a much needed boost and prepared him mentally for what is to come professionally.

“One of the inspirations of my collection came from boy scouts. They are trained to always be prepared. It is also representative of what I’d experienced throughout the whole contest. I learned to pay attention to everything, including every detail. Always ready to go the extra mile. When you’re always prepared, hopefully someone will come along and appreciate what you do,” he said.

As part of his prize, Leo will join British designer Martine Rose for a four-month internship in the UK, starting on 4 March. This will be a valuable experience for a newly-graduated designer to learn about the operation of a fashion brand at a renowned international label. He is excited about what is to come and ready to soak in everything he can about the fashion industry while there.

Chan is planning on furthering his studies on menswear in the UK but before that, he will focus on completing his internship. The young designer aspires to launch his own label one day.

“But before that, I need to learn and absorb as much as possible. I need to gain more experience, and also to save enough money to realise that dream.”

The fashion fighter

Inspired by Nietzsche’s manuscript “The Will to Power”, Yeung Shun Leong has crafted a collection drawing on different types of martial arts and athletic wear. The functional yet creative collection saw him victorious in the coveted “New Talent Award” sponsored by JOYCE.

Yeung considers the YDC as a rite of passage for all Hong Kong fashion graduates and decided to enter during his final year to gain the experience and exposure promised by this major contest, and he wasn’t disappointed.

“I feel like I completed a personal goal by entering the YDC. I was able to release my collection on a big stage, gain the exposure I wanted from the Hong Kong market, and most importantly, won the chance to collaborate with JOYCE to learn about how to run a fashion business.”

Winning the New Talent Award gives Yeung the opportunity to launch his winning collection “Übermensch” at JOYCE as a limited edition in Hong Kong later this year.

“It’s the perfect start for a new designer like me to have a real collaboration with an important fashion buyer and get to know what their requirements are. JOYCE has been very helpful in advising me on everything from customer expectations to how to adapt my runway collection to the market.”

Yeung would eventually like to launch his own label but at this moment, he is focused on gaining more experience, particularly on the production side. Since Mainland China is a much bigger market than Hong Kong, he also plans to enter contests and seek business opportunities there.

Wanna be the NEXT? Apply for YDC 2019 now!

"Always ready to go the extra mile. When you’re always prepared, hopefully someone will come along and appreciate what you do,”

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